Generalized Black Hole Entropy is von Neumann Entropy

Abstract

It was recently shown that the von Neumann algebras of observables dressed to the mass of a Schwarzschild-AdS black hole or an observer in de Sitter are Type II, and thus admit well-defined traces. The von Neumann entropies of "semi-classical" states were found to be generalized entropies. However, these arguments relied on the existence of an equilibrium (KMS) state and thus do not apply to, e.g., black holes formed from gravitational collapse, Kerr black holes, or black holes in asymptotically de Sitter space. In this paper, we present a general framework for obtaining the algebra of dressed observables for linear fields on any spacetime with a Killing horizon. We prove, assuming the existence of a stationary (but not necessarily KMS) state and suitable decay of solutions, a structure theorem that the algebra of dressed observables always contains a Type II factor "localized" on the horizon. These assumptions have been rigorously proven in most cases of interest. Applied to the algebra in the exterior of an asymptotically flat Kerr black hole, where the fields are dressed to the black hole mass and angular momentum, we find a product of a Type II$_{\infty}$ algebra on the horizon and a Type I$_{\infty}$ algebra at past null infinity. In Schwarzschild-de Sitter, despite the fact that we introduce an observer, the quantum field observables are dressed to the perturbed areas of the black hole and cosmological horizons and is the product of Type II$_{\infty}$ algebras on each horizon. In all cases, the von Neumann entropy for semiclassical states is given by the generalized entropy. Our results suggest that in all cases where there exists another "boundary structure" (e.g., an asymptotic boundary or another Killing horizon) the algebra of observables is Type II$_{\infty}$ and in the absence of such structures (e.g., de Sitter) the algebra is Type II$_{1}$.